O’Loughlin rides well against Cavendish and other big-guns in Manchester

O’Loughlin mixes it with world champ Cavendish (Photo: Larry Hickmott/velouk.net)

David O’Loughlin (Cunga Bikes) has continued his comeback to international track racing with a good performance at the Revolution 34 meeting in Manchester, taking second in the Australian pursuit.

The 33-year-old from Mayo was beaten only by Team Sky’s Peter Kennaugh.

The Australian pursuit involves eight riders, who start equal distances apart around the track. A rider is eliminated when he is caught from behind.

O’Loughlin was also sixth in the motor paced scratch race, coming in ahead of big names like world champion Mark Cavendish, European track champion Ed Clancy and Sky’s Geraint Thomas.

He also rode the scratch race during Saturday night’s meeting, taking 13^th in a field of 22.

O’Loughlin was the only Irish rider taking part in the meeting, though a composite team rode under his Cunga Bikes livery.

These consisted of individual riders whose teams were not riding and so were assembled into a Cunga Bikes team for the meeting.

The points gained by O’Loughlin during Saturday night’s racing and during the last Revolution outing in October – where he was third in the points race – have helped lift Cunga Bikes to fourth overall in the Revolution series team rankings.

That position has also been aided by some good rides from members of the Cunga Bikes composite team during both 2011 Revolution meetings.

The Manchester velodrome was literally packed to the rafters for Saturday night’s event, as crowds queued around the block to get in to see Cavendish in action.

While the night belonged to the Isle of Man rider, former GB international Rob Hayles got a very emotional send off from the riders and spectators on the occasion of his retirement from racing.

The outing for O’Loughlin was part of his preparation to launch an assault on Olympic qualification in the upcoming World Cup meetings and UCI World Track Championships next April.

Australian Pursuit

1 KENNAUGH Peter Sky Procycling 3:19.234 30
2 O’LOUGHLIN David Cunga Bikes 25
3 KEISSE Iljo Rouleur 23
4 MARVULLI Franco Rapha Condor Sharp 22
5 MOSES Tom Chep UK 21
6 MOULD Jon Howies 20
7 BACKSTEDT Magnus Team UK Youth 19
8 ROWE Luke Maxgear Racing 18

Motor Paced Scratch

Team Elimination

1 RAPHA-CONDOR-SHARP Rapha Condor Sharp 6:47.773 30
2 ROULEUR Rouleur 25
3 HOWIES Howies 23
4 MAXGEAR RACING Maxgear Racing 22
5 CUNGA BIKES Cunga Bikes 21
6 TEAM YOUTH UK Team UK Youth 20
7 CHEP UK Chep UK 19
8 SKY Procycling Sky Procycling 18

Scratch Race

1 CAVENDISH Mark Howies 17:00.374 30
2 BURKE Steven Team UK Youth 25
3 ROWE Luke Maxgear Racing 23

Selected others
4 KENNAUGH Peter Sky Procycling 22
5 YATES Simon Maxgear Racing 21
9 FENN Andy Howies 17
10 BACKSTEDT Magnus Team UK Youth 16
13 O’LOUGHLIN David Cunga Bikes 13
15 DOWSETT Alex Sky Procycling 11
18 THOMAS Geraint Sky Procycling 8
19 TENNANT Andy Rapha Condor Sharp 7
20 CLANCY Ed Rapha Condor Sharp 6